Windows XP Gets the Boot

When Windows versions get too antiquated, Microsoft puts them out to pasture. For the last five years or so they've had a very clear "Life-Cycle Policy" that defines the various stages of decrepitude. When mainstream support ends your access to tech support dwindles through the extended support phase and eventually sinks to online self-help support. But well before that happens there are a couple of other milestones. First Microsoft stops licensing the OS for installation on OEM systems. Then it stops selling licenses to individuals. For Windows XP, those milestones are coming sooner than you think. After January 2008 all PCs sold will have to have Vista, not XP. And a year later you won't even be able to buy a license for XP.

Of course, this isn't a new phenomenon. Every other Windows version released prior to XP has already hit that second milestone. You can't buy them any more. And all but Windows 2000 have hit that big tombstone - the end of extended support. But a closer look suggests Microsoft is hurrying XP out the door with more than usual haste. All the other Windows platforms managed to peacefully co-exist with their replacements for two to three years. Microsoft stopped the OEM licensing of Windows 95 about two and a half years after releasing Windows 98. You could still get a system with Windows 2000 pre-installed right up to March of 2004, over two years after XP's release. By comparison, XP is getting short shrift. If you start counting with Vista's actual release to consumers, XP is getting the boot in less than a year.

Is this good? Is it bad? It's certainly makes my job easier if I don't have to check every "Ask Neil" tip to make sure it works in every possible Windows version. And Vista really does have better security (though perhaps not as much better as Microsoft would have you believe). If everybody is using more secure systems, we all benefit. Don't we? But really, good or bad, it's happening. Better hope you like Vista, because soon it'll be the only flavor available.

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